A high school and college student each were recipients of $2,500 scholarships:

Collegian Innovation and Leadership: Patricia Izbucki, Iowa State University

Youth Innovation and Leadership: Danielle Panning, Valley Lutheran High School

Brian Waller, President of the Technology Association of Iowa, speaks during the Women of Innovation Awards banquet Monday night at Prairie Meadows.

Brian Waller—President of the Technology Association of Iowa—told Clay & Milk before the event that sometimes Iowans do themselves a disservice about the lack of diversity in the tech community rather than focus on the richness of Iowa’s tech community.

“Sometimes I think we need to rest on the fact that we need to profile and highlight women who are doing great stuff, rather than talk about the lack of them,” Waller said. “And tonight is really a great personification of that.”

Waller said in 2018 the Technology Association of Iowa is going to focus on the women in the tech community, rather than talking about the lack of perceived women in the industry.

“Not only are women doing technology and STEM-related stuff here in Iowa, they are changing the world through technology and that’s the story we want to get out more,” Waller says. “So if you’re a young girl and you want to change the world, you can do that with technology and science-based industries.”